Page 11 of Wolf Caged
Now, now.
I flashed jagged teeth at the moon as my shadows faltered and reached a hand towards it, a fistful of claws that closed around the orb.
But I held little sway over it here.
So I wrapped shadows tighter around me and stepped back into the kiss of gloom beneath the trees, savouring their inky welcoming embrace.
There would be no crossing the expanse of open ground between the forest and the barn without someone noticing.
The muttered comments of the males ahead of me revealed this was the right place.
My key was right where Neve had told me it would be.
My grin returned, wider now as I sensed impending victory. No moon could snatch it from me.
“Lucia,” I murmured to the stunning orb, “By thy great goddess’s heart, grant me silence and stealth. Seal shut your eyes. Breathe darkness before me.”
I stretched my hand to the sky again, blotting out the moon, and the earth grew still and the air trembled. The males fell silent, the scent of their fear swirling around me as they stiffened. When I lowered my hand, darkness so thick even I could barely see through it descended around me. I tilted my head back, raising my face to the heavy blanket of night, and slowly smiled as weak pinpricks of light gently bloomed into sparkling waves of stars that coated the sky.
One of the males stepped back, his fear striking me, speaking to me. “No. I am leaving. Nothing is worth this. I suggest you do the same.”
He twisted this way and that, wild eyes scanning the shadows.
Seeking me.
Fae filth.
Traitorous heathen.
Two of the men chuckled, as if the male had lost his mind and was overreacting.
If only they knew.
“He who turns his back on his beloved goddess deserves nothing less than my wrath.” I stroked my claws over the rough bark of the tree beside me, contemplating all the delicious ways I would carve this male up for daring to live beyond the lands of Lucia. Beyond the sphere of his goddess’s grace.
The male swung towards me, golden eyes bright, and his hood fell back to reveal hair as gold.
A hiss ripped from me.
“Seelie,” I snarled.
Recognition flashed across his face and then he was gone, only glittering air remaining where he had been standing.
My claws cleaved deep into the tree.
Foul wretch.
Neve had failed to warn me I would find one of his ilk in my path. For that, the dragon would pay.
The remaining five men hurried towards the barn, granting me silence and stealth.
I stepped out from beneath the tree, and a moment later, I stepped out of the shadows, the pointed tip of my right boot emerging first, cleaving through the darkness like a blade. The shadows slipped away, lovingly clinging as they went, caressing with tendrils that fell away to writhe like snakes across the frozen ground.
At my shoulders, they clasped me tightly, pressing into the plates of my black pauldrons to form a cloak behind me.
A sigh escaped my lips as I tilted my head towards the night again, as endless starlight seared my eyes and bathed my skin. I breathed it in, savouring the calm as my claws retracted and the earth stilled again, time seemingly suspended around me. Butmy mind continued to race, my thoughts drawn to the barn, to what awaited within it.
What form would my revenge take?
